No need to get too worked up over my comments, Ebbie. You suggest that Obama may be smarter than me? Well, yeah! I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he's a good deal smarter than me. ;-) He seems like a very smart guy to me, and he has accomplished much more in life than I have.

I do believe that if he genuinely tried to change the status quo in America in ways that the more progressive elements would like to see happen that he would face personal destruction...either by assassination...or by less violent but equally effective means which would eviscerate and destroy his presidency.

I do believe it's that bad, yes.

So, he is necessarily quite constrained in what he can do, and I'm sure he knows that. What I am not sure about is what he would do if he felt absolutely free to act without such constraint. In other words, I'm not certain of his actual ideals and how far he would take them in an ideal world.

Kucinich is much freer than Obama to speak out and act as a genuine progressive, because Kucinich isn't president. He's just a small fish. A small fish can get away with more than the president can and not be destroyed for it. I have no doubt about Kucinich's ideals, but he's operating in a smaller sphere where he can still get away with it.

As for Iraq and Afghanistan, there is NO justification for being in either of those countries, there never was one, and the USA should get out of them. If Obama continues trying to win that war in Afghanistan, I think it will destroy his presidency just like Vietnam did LBJ's....just like Aghanistan indirectly helped bring down the Soviet system in the 80's.